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Situational Irony
Definition of Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost thoughts and feelings as if... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself... read full definition
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Courtesan:
The otherwise unnamed Courtesan with whom Antipholus of Ephesus dines after being denied entrance to his own home reflects upon Antipholus's apparent madness in a soliloquy that reveals her own priorities. She says:
Now, out of doubt Antipholus is mad;
Else would he never so demean himself.
A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,
And for the same he promised me a chain.
Both one and other he denies me now.
The reason that I gather he is mad [...]
This window into her private thoughts highlights the transactional nature of her relationship with Antipholus, which seems to be bound up in various forms of exchange: her ring for a relatively expensive chain, for example. The Courtesan spends little time worrying over Antipholus’s personal safety, nor lamenting what she believes to be his loss of sanity. What matters most to her, here, is having her property returned to her.
In some ways, then, the Courtesan’s priorities seem to validate Adriana’s assumption that mistresses are more interested in a married man’s property than in the man himself. Throughout the course of this soliloquy, the Courtesan agrees with the many other Ephesians who, mistaking Antipholus of Ephesus for his twin brother, assume that he has simply gone mad.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Call Me by My Name:
In one of the play’s few soliloquies, Antipholus of Syracuse wonders to himself about the strange and inexplicable friendliness he has encountered in Ephesus:
There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me
As if I were their well-acquainted friend,
And everyone doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me; some invite me; […]
Sure these are but imaginary wiles,
And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here
In this soliloquy, the audience is given a window into Antipholus’s thoughts and feelings at this point in the play. He cannot believe the warmth and kindness with which he has been received by the Ephesians, who salute him as they would an old friend, invite him into their homes, and even somehow refer to him by his own name without ever having been introduced. Dramatic irony pervades the soliloquy, as the audience understands that the Ephesians greet him with such friendliness because they have misidentified him as his twin brother.
The suspicious Antipholus does not trust this warm welcome, speculating that the friendliness of the Ephesians is a strategy for trapping victims on the island. As of this soliloquy, Antipholus of Syracuse still believes that he is in a city populated by supernatural beings like sorcerers and ghosts who trick humans to wicked ends.
Related Themes:
